Laffing Sal, or Beulah the Laffing Lady as she was known at Meyers Lake Park, was one of the most popular and memorable attractions as part of the park’s Laff-in-the-Dark ride.

Now she’s prominently placed where her laugh can be heard throughout the new permanent exhibition — “The Stark County Story” — at Wm. McKinley Presidential Library and Museum.

Docents at the McKinley museum will tell visitors during tours of the exhibit that The Laffing Lady was a fixture at Meyers Lake for four decades. Museum patrons also will learn that The Laffing Lady was made early in the 1930s at the Old King Cole Paper Mache Co. of Louisville, which made “Laffing Sal” attractions that were distributed to amusement parks throughout the country.

“They sent them all over, so a lot of people will say ‘I saw The Laffing Lady in Indiana,’ or wherever,” said Kim Kenney, curator the McKinley museum. “They’re like her, but this is the one that was at Meyers Lake.”

Beulah’s inner workings have been repaired, Kenney said. Original worn parts such as the camshaft that makes her move — flop around, really — have been replaced with parts fabricated by Steve Secrest, facility manager at the museum. The paint on her gap-toothed smiling face had been touched up, but her huge head and oversized hands and thick legs are original material.

Her new dress — actually our new dresses, one for each season — was made by a sister of museum executive director Joyce Yut.

“We have summer and she’s wearing fall,” said Kenney. “I’m sure we’ll be getting a winter dress soon and another one in the spring. All of the patterns are outlandish, to fit her personality.”

Indeed, The Laffing Lady has a boisterous manner about her. Her hearty laugh, the same one Meyers Lake visitors heard for decades, has been digitized. Museum patrons can hear a few seconds of it when they press a button on her display case.

George Sinclair, the last owner of Meyers Lake Amusement Park once laughed himself when he recalled the local legend of how that laugh originated.

“After the manufacturers built the mannequin, they had to come up with a sound to go with it, so they took and old retired opera singer out and got her drunk,” Sinclair told The Repository in 1988. “Then they told her dirty stories and taped her laugh.”

And so, the laugh lives on. After Meyers Lake park closed in 1974, “Laughing Sal” was on display for years at Damis Motors and Garden Equipment, which was on Wertz Avenue SW. When Gus Damis died The Laffing Lady was donated to the museum by Damis’ four children.

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“She’d been in storage and we knew we had to get her out. She’s one of the most popular artifacts we have at the museum.” said Kenney, who asked that those who have pictures of The Laffing Lady when she was at Meyers Lake bring the photographs to the museum so the images can be copied and preserved.

“There was no question she would be a part of this exhibit. And she’s proved to be as popular as we expected. People are thrilled to see her. She brings back a lot of memories for people.”

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT OPENING

WHAT: “The Stark County Story”

WHEN: 9 am. to 4 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Wm. McKinley Presidential Library and Museum

WHY: Opening of the museum’s $1 million permanent exhibit in the former Historical and Industrial halls.